Another "Cousin"
by TheLadySong
Summary: Piper and Leos' future daughter seeks refuge in the present. I'm probs. with the chaptering, so I'm not sure if this will work. It's been posted as individual chaps. for a while.
1. Default Chapter Title

Another "Cousin" Part 1  
Charmed Fanfic  
  
Disclaimer: None of the characters which appear on Charmed are mine, but the storyline is.  
  
Phoebe Halliwell stumped into the kitchen groggily. "Is it just me, or does everyone else feel completely pulverized?"  
From the look of Prue, her sister, Phoebe wasn't the only one. Prue poured a glass of orange juice and shoved it over. "Curse the stupid warlocks"  
"Isn't that what we're trying to do?" their sister, Piper asked as she entered the kitchen.  
"Sure is." Phoebe answered. She put a hand on the counter to grab for the orange juice.  
Flash! A premonition hit her.  
A strange creature, oddly like a warlock with a tail, charged into the kitchen. A young woman hid under the table, cowering. The creature paused looking around. From under the table the young woman seemed to regroup herself. She held her hands palms up, in summoning. Fire gathered in ther palms. She inched out from under the table and turned around, still sitting. She got her feet in front of her, ready to stand up, when the creature gave a roar.   
Faster than thought, the girl was in her feet, and her arms snapped straight out, her palms at right angles to her arms, pointing straight at the monster. Columns of flame jumped, roaring, out of the outstretched hands, to cover him in flame. The girl quavered a minute, her strength flickering uncertainly as the monster sank to the floor, burning. The flame had run down to a fine thread, and the girl was pale and trembling by the time the monster was ash. Prue and Piper skidded into the kitchen, staring at the ashes and the girl. She gave them a weak smile, and collapsed on the floor.  
  
Phoebe opened her eyes.  
Piper walked over. She looked tired and worried. "What was it?"  
"Um, uh," phoebe said, "Uh, there was a girl here, in the kitchen. She was hiding under the table. And this, this thing, this monster came in, and she used fire to vanquish it. Then you came in, and she fainted. It happened in the future, but I can't tell exactly when, or even if its gonna be tomorrow, or in 20 years." She looked at her watch. "And I have to go, or I am going to be late for class." She turned to leave.  
"Uh, Phoebe?" Prue called.  
Phoebe poked her head back into the kitchen. "Yes?"  
Prue struggled to control a smile. "You sort of need to be wearing clothes to go to college."  
Phoebe looked down at her rumpled pyjamas. "Oh yeah." She sprinted off.  
Prue looked at Piper. "Do you think her premonition was that serious?"  
Piper shook her head. We don't know yet. It's too bad they don't have PhoebeVision listed in the TV guide."  
"Hey, I heard that." Phoebe called from the other end of the house. "Very funny!" Prue and Piper heard the front door slam.  
"So are you off house hunting?" Prue asked.  
Piper smiled and looked down. "After lunch. Leo's meeting me at eleven. They don't keep him all that long now that we're married."  
Prue looked up. "How do you know when he's coming?"  
"He's been leaving notes telling me'" Piper's smile trembled. "At least I know what he's up to."  
Prue walked over and put her head on Piper's shoulder. "Hey. It's just for a little while. Leo's Whitelighter friend will take his calls, we'll handle warlocks and whatever else comes, and you two will have two weeks to yourselves. No magic, nothing."  
"Yeah, I know. Sometimes its just hard being patient. Piper sighed. "I have to go to the club. While we were off chasing warlocks last night there was a lot of cleaning that went undone. My assistant had a real family emergency and had to go home right after we closed."  
"Have fun" Prue said.  
"I'll try," Piper left.  
Phoebe was grocery shopping. She was between classes and decided to get the shopping done this morning, and take a nap in the afternoon. Chasing warlocks last night left her heavy-eyed this morning.  
As she pushed her cart through the aisles, Phoebe pondered her premonition that morning. She didn't think the girl was exactly an innocent in need of protection. It had seemed like a good clean vanquish.  
Or maybe she was, Phoebe realized, remembering the girl's failing strength and the way she had collapsed afterward.  
Something niggled in the back of Phoebe's mind. She frowned, trying to remember. The girl reminded her of someone, someone she knew. Phoebe gazed out the windows of the store, deep in thought. She watched some guys playing frisbee. As an athletic-looking young man caught a frisbee, it hit her. The girl looked like Leo.  
Something about her eyes was like Leo. Leo didn't age unless he wanted to. Recently, on Piper's behalf, he had gained a few lines, but there was still a wariness, a watchfulness that was even in the girl's young and unlined face.  
Phoebe shook herself out of her daydream and started to put cans into the cart.  
Later, she walked out to Prue's car, her arms full. She had managed to wheedle the car out of Prue by doing the groceries that week.  
Struggling with the door handle, she lost her grip and dropped the bag. The paper split and cans went rolling all over.  
Phoebe swore and went after them. One of the cans had rolled under the car. She was trying to get it out without getting dirt from the pavement on her jacket, when she saw hand from the other side of the car. "Got it." A male voice said. Phoebe got up and reached around the car to get the can from her rescuer.  
It was the cut frisbee player. "Here you go." He said, handing her the can. "After all, no one should ever be separated from their...tomato paste." He said, twisting the can to get look at the label.   
"Thanks." Phoebe said, taking the can. She got into the car, impatient to tell her sisters about her discovery.  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
Piper was just finishing cleaning when Leo orbed in.  
"Good morning, Mrs. Wyatt." He said, kissing her.  
"Good morning, Mr. Wyatt." She replied, smiling. She hugged him close.  
"We'd better go." He said at last. "When are we meeting the realtor?"  
"At 12:45."  
"Great." He said. "Where to?"  
Piper put the glasses on the counter and led the way.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"And this is the guest bedroom." The realtor announced. "And that concludes our tour." She chuckled, obviously thinking she was funny.  
Piper was about to move on with Leo and the realtor when something caught her eye. A glimmer of red-gold light was moving around the room. Piper froze the room. The light kept moving. She unfroze Leo from down the hall and dragged him down. They both watched silently as the light spread and grew, finally materializing, slowly, into a young woman, about 18 to 20 years old, and though they didn't know it yet, the girl from Phoebe's vision.  
  
This is just the start! Please review or I won't write any more of these!  



	2. Another "cousin" part 2

  
Another "Cousin"  
Part 2  
  
First of all, thanks to the people who reviewed the first part. It really was heartwarming.   
  
(truly!)  
Sorry this took so long. My server was down )-:  
  
Disclaimer: Any of the characters which appear in Charmed are not mine. Melinda appeared as a little girl in one episode of Charmed, so I guess technically she isn't even mine. Everyone else, the concept of Firebrights, as well as the storyline, is mine!  
  
Prue was making tea in the kitchen when Piper and Leo came in. Piper stormed past Prue, fuming. "How'd it go? Prue asked.  
"Don't ask. Everything was going just fine. Then this girl, I don't know, just orbs into the middle of eveything and i have no idea who she is or why we didn't leave her there."  
Prue blinked. "Whoa. Wait a second. You lost me right after 'everything was going fine'"  
Leo came in carrying the girl in his arms. "This is the one who came in. But she didn't orb. It was.. I've only ever seen it..." his voice trailed off.  
"What? Who is she?" Piper demanded. The girl in Leo's arms stirred a little. He turned into the living room and set her on a couch. The three of them hovered over her, but she didn't move again.  
"Well, as to who, let's see if she's got any ID on her." Leo took her bag and started to open it. "Weird." he said, raising his hands. "The bag has a magical locking spell on it, but it's keyed to me, or at least, me in part." He started to go through the bag.  
"Hey, look,"He said, unearthing a wallet. Leo opened it and pulled out a card. "It's a university ID. And it's..." He went pale and dropped the card.  
"What? asked Prue. She took the card and handed it to Piper.  
Piper read the ID. "Oh, God."  
On the card was a picture of the girl and her name.  
Melinda Anne Wyatt.  
They all looked at each other uneasily.  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Melinda was sitting up and sipping tea by the time Phoebe came in. She stopped short at the threshold and stared. "Who's that?" Phoebe asked.  
Melinda smiled cheekily. "Hello, aunty Phoebe. Had a nice trip?"  
Piper scowled at her.  
"Aunty Phoebe? What have you two been up to while I was away?" Phoebe looked suspicously at Piper and Leo.  
Piper gave a shaky sort of laugh. "Okay. Here we go. Phoebe, this is Melinda. She's... your niece. She's from..."  
"2020." Melinda supplied cheerily.  
Piper scowled at her. "You are way to cheerful. Now, why are you here, and how did you get here, and how did you find us?"  
Melinda grew serious. "First of all, I'm a Firebright. It's a... I don't know how to explain it."  
Leo broke in. "A firebright is a powerful immortal on the side of good. Think of it as the opposite equivalent of a class 4 or 5 demon. A Firebright was one of my bosses, until he was killed. That's what keeps them seperate from higher entities. They can die, if someone kills them."  
"So if you're so powerful, why are you here?" Prue asked.  
"I was in an accident, and I just got all cut up and everything, and it took a lot of strength and time to heal. Since I was too weak to use much of my power, but still had my power, I was a natural target for demons and stuff like that. None of you or my friends had the power to keep away this one demon. I'm safe from her here."  
Prue narrowed her eyes. "What's to keep her from following you here?"  
Melinda smiled a little. "She was, or is going to be, whatever, born in a few months.  
Until then, she wouldn't have any power."  
Piper clapped her hands. "Okay, that's your story. Phebes, get the Book of Shadows.  
I saw something on Firebrights there a while ago, and there's a truth spell. Now is when we   
check to see if you're lying." she said to Melinda.  
"Wait," Melinda said, "I've got this. It should count for something." She took off her   
necklace. The necklace was a gold chain with small long, thin glass capsules hanging on either  
side of a small brass charm. On closer inspection the charm had a small flame within a circle  
engraved on it. "It's my Firebright Sign. If I was evil, it would burn my flesh the moment I  
touched it. The vials have hairs from all the witches in my coven, and you, and Dad."  
Leo took the Sign and examined it closely. "It's genuine." he said. "The Council gives   
it to members when they come of age. It gives them free pass anywhere among the ranks of good  
and protection from evil."  
"Well then," Phoebe said. "How's your cooking?"  
  
Same as before: No reviews, no continuation. Hope you liked it!  



	3. Another "Cousin" part 3

  
Another "Cousin"  
Part 3  
Disclaimer: Any of the characters which do appear or have appeared in Charmed are not mine. Any other characters which do not appear in Charmed, the concept of Firebrights, and the storyline are mine.   
Enjoy! Review!  
  
Machria watched the scene unfolding from the other side of the mirror. All evil knew of the Charmed Ones; they had grown into legend. They were the witches who could kill a warlock at lunch and have strength for a midafternoon snack; they were so powerful that any creature able to steal their powers would have every other mimion of evil at their beck and call. To be ordered to fight them was the same as being sentenced to death.  
  
When one of the withches fell in love with a Whitelighter, hope had risen briefly in the ranks of evil; it was so forbidden the Whitelighter council might even revoke their powers. Those hopes had been thwarted, however, at the marriage. Rumour had it that the Coucil had allowed it because of self-sacrifice on the sister's part. Machria flinched inwardly; A marriage meant Wiccan bratlings that would grow up in their parent's tradition.  
  
Which was meant to happen, and in a way more dramatic than simple bratlings; this one, as he observed through the other side of the mirror, was enough to give someone as high-ranking a demon as Machria nightmares. The young woman, brought from the future, was a Firebright. Firebrights were as powerful as anything on earth could get while still being killable. That was the point, though. The bratling could be killed, and Machria could have more power than he'd ever dreamed.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
After the lunch dishes were cleared away, Melinda sat at the kitchen table with papers spread all around her. Phoebe walked through, having abandoned her nap. "What are you working on?"  
  
Melinda looked up and wrinkled her nose. "English essay."  
  
"Oh. Hey, we go to the same college, don't we? Who's your teacher?  
  
Melinda went sifting through the heaps of paper. "Professor Christianson. He gives the stupidest essays."  
  
Phoebe sat down. "I know. I'm in his class. We're doing one now. It's something like..."  
  
"The use of cloud and sky imagery in the poetry of William Shakespeare. You told me when it was assigned. Anyway, we figure he's been giving it out since 1876, 'cause he's got to be at least two hundred years old and he started giving it out when he was 54."  
  
"Really? My study buddies are saying at least 1798."  
  
They grinned at each other. "My humour's gotta come from Mom's side of the family, because Dad's people have to be taught how to laugh." Melinda said.  
  
"I heard that." Leo walked into the kitchen. "really, you shouldn't-"  
  
"Insult the council because until you're twenty-five you don't outrank them." Melinda interjected "Yet." she muttered. "Yes, father dear." Phoebe guessed that that had been an issue with Melinda before; It had the sound of a memorized litany.  
  
Piper came in just in time to see both of them glance up; the council had summoned them both. She gave up and sighed. "Both of you?"  
  
Melinda came over and hugged her. "If we're gone any longer than three hours, we'll tell you."  
  
Leo orbed out in a haze of white light, and Melinda winked at Phoebe. "I'm guessing this isn't about mocking the council, for once." She dissapeared in a glimmer of fire and a wisp of smoke.  
  
Phoebe looked cautiously at Piper. Piper looked just about to say something annoyed, but sighed. "They can't help it. It's not their fault. It would just be nice to have a normal family, and not have people orb off all the time. Not to have to raise your children to always watch what they say in case 'They' are listening. I guess I'll just have to settle for what I have."  
  
Phoebe smiled. "What do you think of Melinda?"  
  
"What does any mother think? She's beautiful."  
  
Phoebe looked at the papers next to her. "And she has really bad penmanship."  
  
"Oh, shush. Scat."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
Machria retreated to the darkness outside his mirrors. This was going to be hard. The Firebright's mother was already attatched to her; that meant that he would have to face not just a rather weak Firebright, but the Charmed Ones, and most likely the Whitelighter Council and the girl's father. This was going to be hard.  
  
He had to, though. He'd marked Melinda as his prey; no other could hunt her until he failed or succeded, and honour said he had to hunt her. Honour to a demon, there's an irony, he thought.  
  
Nonetheless, he set about preparing. He would teach this Melinda Wyatt that although she had escaped one demon, she hadn't escaped them all. 


	4. Part 4

Another "Cousin"  
Part 4  
  
Disclaimer: Any of the characters which do appear or have appeared in Charmed are not mine. Any other characters which do not appear in Charmed, the concept of Firebrights, and the storyline are mine. Leonora and Cassandra were co-created with theladyofLorraine. (her fic will be up here someday)   
Sorry this took so long. My muse has left me. I'll try to survive without her, but if the story sucks, it's her fault.  
  
Phoebe was in the living room, sleeping, when the phone rang. By the time she woke up, got Kit off her chest, and got to the phone, the answering machine had taken over. "Hi Phoebe. It's Clarence from English. Just checking in. Bye."  
  
Clarence?  
  
Clarence from English?  
  
Who was this mysterious Clarence?  
  
Oh, Phoebe realized. The guy from the parking lot the day Melinda showed up. It just so happened that she lend a pen when his ran out. So why was this Clarence phoning her?  
  
Maybe he's just infatuated and has no idea why he's calling, she considered.  
  
Wait a minute.  
  
I never gave this Clarence person my phone number.  
  
Definitely infatuated and witless.  
  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Machria cursed the mortal. He was scared, and greedy. Punishment should be given. It was a day already and Machria was no closer to the Charmed Ones or the Firebright. The longer that Machria waited, the more chance that the Firebright would leave.  
  
He muttered a spell, and reached for a poppet. That couldn't happen. The mortal had to be taught a lesson.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
Melinda had been out running when Clarence called. Phoebe hadn't wanted her to leave, but, as Melinda pointed out, she had almost grown up in the area. It was a nice change to see the strip mall that to her had always been there had once been a park.  
  
She walked through the trees, taking a rest, when she was jumped. A large form lunged out from behind a tree and attatched itself to her shoulders. Melinda crouched down, letting the person's momentum carry them over her head to slam into the dirt. In a flash she was sitting on his stomach with his arms pinned behind his back.  
  
The person turned his head to look at her. Before she could properly look at him, his face mutated into a gruesome mask.  
  
Man, she thought, can't I even go jogging without getting jumped by warlocks at every street corner? "You just attacked the wrong girl." She said.  
  
She had just begun muttering a vanquishing spell when a voice behind her said, "Is there a problem?"  
  
She looked around and turned bright pink. "Oh, hello, Inspector Morris."  
  
He frowned. "Have we met?"  
  
Oops, she realized. Wrong decade. "Uh... I don't think you know who I am. I'm a...cousin... of the Halliwell's."  
  
"Another one, huh. They must come from a large family. Who's this that you're sitting on?"  
  
This one was pretty easy at least. "I have no idea. I was out running and he jumped me out of the wild blue yonder."  
  
He raised one eyebrow. "Oh, really. Well, we can take him down to the station."  
  
Melinda stood up, still grabbing the guy's wrists. "Here you go."  
  
The guy flinched. "Machria," he muttered.  
  
And blinked himself out.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
"Well, this matches up with the information we have." Leo said, flipping through the Book of Shadows. The council said the demon was after Melinda. I'm guessing the warlock who jumped you was a servant of his, or you'd be dead right now."  
  
Melinda sighed. "Here I was, hoping for a nice little holiday, and I get attacked by a servant of a class 3 demon, and get caught at it as well. I am not happy."  
  
Piper looked worried. "Caught? by who?"  
  
"Morris. Didn't I tell you?"  
  
Piper groaned. "Don't tell me that twenty years from now we're still going to be dealing with Morris so much that my children will know him by sight. Couldn't he just move or something?"  
  
"First, let's get to the important part. How do we vanquish this aforesaid class 3 demon?"  
  
  
(My muse just called. She's in holiday in Mexico, lapping up sun and tequila, and is sure I can finish without her. So here we go...)  
  
"Machria is a demon of shadow, darkness, and illusion," Leo read. "He lives and works only in mirrors. A witch improsoned him in a mirror a long time ago. He uses warlocks to bring powerful innocents, usually witches, to him."  
  
"Yeah, and someone like Melinda sounds right up his alley." Piper said. "And she-" She looked around for Melinda.  
  
"Is gone." Phoebe finished, pointing at the open door. None of the adults had even heard her leave.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
Piper found Melinda in the backyard. Melinda was going through something that looked like palm pilot. "Hey."   
  
Melinda looked up. "Hey."  
  
"Honey, what's wrong?" Piper decided to be direct.  
  
Melinda sighed. "Everything was going so well. It was like... normal. Like most families are. Like the girls at school. They're so carefree. They worry about boys and makeup and nail polish." She sighed again. "And I go from day to day, always watching my back, no rest, because the moment I let my guard down they're gonna kill me. And if I don't die, if, then I'll be a full-fledged Firebright. That's the only thing that keeps me going. But then, I was so low on energy, I just fell ill. And nearly died, not from anything supernatural, but from exaustion. And I'm starting to get sick of it."  
  
Piper hugged her. "I know exactly how you feel. As if life would just be so much simpler. But I kept butting my head up against that brick wall. And I learned. You can't fight who you are. It took me so long to learn that."  
  
Melinda stared in astonishment. "You? Invincible, infalliable you? That doesn't seem... possible."  
  
"But it is. I didn't ask to be a witch, any more than Leo asked to be a Whitelighter. Someday, you just have to think... Is my life, and being carefree, and safe, worth more than the good I do, or the people I save? Just ask yourself that. I hope what took me years to learn, and hurt so much to learn, will help you."  
  
"Okay." Melinda digested this. Suddenly she changed the topic. "See this?" She held out the electronic thing she had before. "It's an electronic photo album. I was looking at it." She pressed a button. The first picture was taken with San Francisco Bay in the background. Piper stared. It was a group shot. She could see herself, Leo, Prue and Phoebe, and Melinda at one end of a horde of at least eight children, as well as two men Piper didn't recognize. The caption read: The whole fam-dam-ily.  
  
Melinda grinned at the horror on Piper's face. "I'm not saying how many are yours, and how many are cousins." she said teasingly. She pressed a button.  
  
The next had a little girl in the foreground holding an ice cream cone. The ice cream scoop was at her feet and she looked about to cry. Behind her was an older girl with an evil grin on her face. This caption read: Leonora discovers the more entertaining aspect of power. Note: this is right before Cassandra hurls the ice cream into Leonora's face.  
  
Piper groaned. "Leonora? Please say that none of us were ever so cruel to our children to name a daughter after the father."  
  
Melinda said nothing for a minute. Then she looked at Piper. "What are we doing? We have a demon to vanquish."  
  
And that's the end of that chapter.  
Halfway through the last subchapter my Muse came crawling back. For those who don't know, a Muse is a greek goddess of... in this case, literature, if you could call it that. She's the one that supplies your inspiration.  
  
Almost the same as before: No reviews, no more, and the next is the conclusion, and here's the kicker: IT'S HALFWAY FINISHED. (evil grin) so just scroll down a little more, write a review, and you get to see if Melinda gets killed or not and what happens overall. I'm having fun. (evil laugh) 


	5. Conclusion

Another "Cousin"  
Part 5 (the conclusion)  
  
Disclaimer: All characters which have or do appear in Charmed aren't mine. Leonora, Cassandra, and the whole deal with the Enchanted Four were co-created between myself and theladyoflorraine. The concept of Firebrights are mine, as is the storyline itself.  
  
My muse came crawling back on Tuesday, so I'm gonna finish this up.  
  
That afternoon's attack had tired Melinda. She slept in Piper's room, and Leo watched over her. In the attic, Prue, Piper and Phoebe were devising a battle plan.  
"This is going to be a problem," Piper said. "This says that the only way to destroy Machria is with the combined forces of many witches. We have what? Three witches, a Whitelighter and a Firebright? Melinda and Leo have a lot of power, but I still think we're going to need more."  
Phoebe looked over Piper's shoulder. "We could do something like get rid of his little servant dudes, or imprison him into something different."  
"Hey, that would work." Prue squinted at the book. "Here's something. 'To Kill Warlocks'. If he doesn't have servants, how can he attack anyone?"  
"Good thinking." Piper began to copy down the recipe for the potion.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
Phoebe was watching the potion when the phone rang. "Prue, would you get that?" She called.  
"Got it." Prue shouted.  
A moment later she came back into the kitchen. "It was someone called Clarence. He asked if everything was all under control. He's coming over."  
Something occurred to Phoebe. "You don't think he's one of them, do you?"  
"A warlock? Why not? We've seen them in disguises a lot better than his."  
"Okay," Phoebe said. "So Clarence is working for Machria. I have the potion, so get ready to vanquish him."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
The doorbell rang. "Prue, get that," Phoebe urged.  
Prue projected her body to the inside of the door and opened it. Clarence stepped inside. "Hi. I'm Clarence."  
Prue's projection smiled. "Yeah. Follow me." She walked towards the kitchen. The moment she got around the corner, Prue returned to her body.  
"Okay." she said. "He's coming."  
They charged out to meet him. Phoebe raised her hand to throw the potion and...  
WHAM!  
Melinda came out of orb and collided with Phoebe. The bottle flew out of Phoebe's hand and smashed on the floor behind them. "Stop!" she cried.  
Prue looked at Melinda. "Are you insane? He's working for Machria!"  
"Stop." Melinda said. "Clarence is a Whitelighter. He's Dad's friend."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
It was a couple of minutes before things calmed down enough for anyone to talk. Finally things became clear. Clarence was Leo's friend who had promised to look after things for two weeks. (if you don't know about that, reread Part 1) Piper knew about him, so he had assumed that Prue and Phoebe did too. Melinda had heard things from upstairs, and orbed down.  
After apologizing profusely for trying to kill him, and, more importantly, mistaking him for a warlock, Prue and Phoebe asked about Machria.  
He smiled a little. "Use a timelink to connect to Melinda's coven and family in the future to now. Defeat him that way."  
Melinda hit herself on the head. "Of course! Why didn't I think of it before? What sort of Firebritght am I?"  
It was Phoebe who asked. "How do we do a timelink?"  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
Melinda sat at the low table in the attic. From each of the glass vials on her necklace, she drew out a single hair. "By using a timelink, I can communicate with those from the future, and they can send me their power. Together we can defeat Machria."  
A bowl of water sat in the middle of the table. "Water symbolizes depth and life. Through water they can send their power." She put her hands on the table, palms up, in summoning, like Phoebe had seen her do in her vision. Phoebe had asked her about the vision, which had been one of Melinda's earlier vanquishings, from when she was seventeen. Melinda spoke.  
"Across the leagues of time and space,  
I call to all of Wiccan grace,  
Of coven, kindred, to me heark,  
Together end the coming dark."  
  
The surface of the water rippled.  
  
"To those who rally to my aim,  
to those who share my brightest flame,  
to the powers of my family near,  
to all allies, send power here."  
  
The water's light played over the surface of the water.  
  
"We are here."  
  
A multitude of voices spoke as one. Melinda held a mirror in front of her, and drew a deep breath.  
"I summon the demon Machria."  
Machria slowly came to the mirror, until he was clearly visible. Piper shuddered. Melinda kept going, and the voices joined her one by one.  
  
"I call on the power of the Enchanted Ones,  
I command the powers summoned here,  
No longer, ever, to bring the fear.  
By powers of the light and good,   
I banish the demon of shadowy hood,  
  
All power now forever lost,  
Not returned at any cost,  
Life reduced to cobwebs frail,  
The power of your life to die and fail.  
  
By fire, by light, so mote it be."  
  
The mirror blackened and cracked. A shadow came out like a wisp of smoke. Melinda spoke again. "By fire, by light, so mote it be." The smoke desintigrated.  
A voice spoke out of the water. "Melinda," it said. With a shock Piper recognized it as her own. "It's safe to come home. It was Machria who created the draining demon. You destroyed Machria, so she was never born."  
"I'll come in just a mintue." Melinda blew on the water, and it became still, reflecting the roof.  
She turned around. "I gotta go." She hugged Piper. "You'll see me again," she said, blinking back tears. "Sooner than you may think." She gripped her Firebright sign, whispered something, and was gone.  
"What did she mean by that?" Leo asked.  
"I think I know," Piper said softly. Slowly she turned and headed down the stairs.  
  
THE END  
  
Okay, let's put it this way: Melinda will be back, but in theladyoflorraine's fics. We created them together, so we're both gonna use them. This is the end of this series. I'm going to retreat back to my sinkhole of Tamora Pierce fics. If you people are very, very good, The Lady Song might post one. Review this anyway. 


End file.
